The Boyd-Buchanan boys celebrate after winning the District 5-A championship Tuesday night at CSAS.

The Arts & Sciences girls celebrate after winning the District 5-A title.

- photo by Jeremy Barrett

A veteran team favored to win and an upset-minded group of young players claimed the District 5-A basketball championships Tuesday night at Arts & Sciences.

The top-seeded Boyd-Buchanan boys defended their district title with a 64-45 victory over CSAS, while second-seeded Arts & Sciences earned the girls' championship with a 41-34 upset over No.

1 Silverdale Baptist.

While the Boyd-Buchanan boys play with seven seniors, the CSAS girls have just one in their lineup, but both the veterans and the less experienced players can now share the title of champions.

The Lady Patriots' Keturah Billen earned the girls' tournament MVP award after her 10 points and tough defense helped her team rally past Silverdale. She was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Brooke Mitchell, junior Sarah McElvain, who scored a game-high 13 points in the final, and freshman point guard Sheridan Randolph.

"We're extremely young," first-year CSAS coach Zach Dragoo said. "It feels like every game has been this same story -- slow start, struggle to make shots, but then somehow we find a way to win. And every time we've done that, it's been predicated on our defense. I think they've really bought into the fact that we're going to go as far as our defense takes us."

After falling behind 9-0 to open the game against top-seeded Silverdale, a team the Lady Patriots split with during the regular season, CSAS ended the first quarter with a 7-0 run to get within 12-11.

In the second period, the Lady Patriots used their quickness to their advantage on the defensive end. They held Silverdale to five points, but only managed to score three of their own. In the second half, CSAS began finishing more of its offensive opportunities as the teams traded the lead five times.

The Lady Patriots claimed it for good with 3:57 remaining after Randolph picked up a loose ball and drove for the go-ahead basket. Silverdale was still within a point with less than two minutes to play, but back-to-back baskets from McElvain helped CSAS extend its margin to 41-34.

"This is a big-time confidence builder," Dragoo said. "When we beat them a few weeks ago, I think that kind of opened our eyes to what we could do. The last three weeks, the girls have really started listening, and doing exactly what we want, and here we are as district champions."

The Boyd-Buchanan boys got 17 points from tournament MVP Austin Walker as the Bucs claimed their second-straight district championship. Arts & Sciences fought back from an early 7-0 deficit to tie the game at 16 two minutes into the second quarter, but Boyd-Buchanan used 3-pointers from Walker and Hall Allen to extend its lead to 30-20 at the break.

"We knew that in a district championship game against a team like CSAS, especially on their home court, that it was going to be a fight," Bucs coach Cole Rose said. "They have a lot of young guys who've been improving all year. I was happy with the way we started, then they went on a little run, but I was pleased with how we responded to that."

Defense and experience helped the Bucs dominate the second half, and Q.D. Cox, Justus McMillan, Zach Jenkins and Allen joined Walker on the all-tournament team. Allen led all scorers with 18 points for Boyd-Buchanan (25-3), which will now turn its focus to defending its Region 3-A title next week.

"Everything started rolling for us in the second half," Rose said. "It definitely helps that we have seven seniors. At this point, they know what it takes. We talk about steps on a ladder and climbing them one at a time, but the main thing we want right now is for our guys to enjoy this.

"They've worked really hard to be successful, because for a long time we weren't successful. We definitely want to go further, but we also want our kids to enjoy winning a district championship. In the past, we've watched a lot of other teams win the district tournament, and it hurts."

In consolation games Tuesday, the Boyd-Buchanan girls defeated Grace Academy 51-32 to earn the No. 3 seeding for the upcoming region tournament, which will feature the top four teams from districts 5 and 6. Copper Basin earned the No. 3 boys' seeding with a 56-49 win over Grace, and will begin region play on Saturday.

The tournament begins Friday with the higher-seeded girls' teams hosting, while the boys' top seeds will host their first-round region games Saturday. The tournament moves to CSAS on Monday with the girls' semifinals, followed by the boys' semifinals on Tuesday.

Austin Hatch will bring his inspirational story of survival and perseverance to the McCallie School on the afternoon of Feb. 3, 2017, as the featured speaker at the Mountain View Auto Group Luncheon for the second annual McCallie Dr Pepper TEN Classic basketball showcase. Hatch survived two plane crashes before graduating from high school — one in 2003 that killed his mother ... (click for more)

The trio of Rafael Mentzingen, Jordan Dunstan, and Charlie Clarke helped make history for the Bryan College Lions Men’s Soccer team as the largest group to earn All-American honors from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and Mentzingen’s second team distinction marked the only the second time in history and first time in 39 years that a member of the Bryan Lions ... (click for more)

County school board members are gearing up to set priorities for the next round of new school construction in Hamilton County. Lee McDade, assistant superintendent, said officials may know by the spring how much money will be available to build new schools or add on to existing ones - or do a combination of both. Board member Rhonda Thurman said a proposal to build a new Chattanooga ... (click for more)

Walker County Sole Commissioner-Elect Shannon Whitfield said there will be a new arrangement for holding of public commissioner sessions when he takes place at the start of January. Current Commissioner Bebe Heiskell has held Thursday meetings at 3:30 p.m. from time to time in a conference room at her office near the Walker County Courthouse in LaFayette. Mr. Whitfield said those ... (click for more)

While a noble cause to make sure vehicles are operating efficiently with the minimum amount of pollutants, a simple analysis makes it somewhat evident the VET program in Chattanooga causes more pollution that it prevents. Though I don't know how many vehicles are tested on an annual basis, if you assume an average round trip of 10 miles to the nearest testing station (five ... (click for more)

If I could change one thing about the schools in Chattanooga, my wish would be that everybody could become good friends. I’m talking about the private schools versus the public schools. The rancor is so bad we hardly ever play in sports anymore and what the loathsome TSSAA has done in recent years to the out-numbered private schools is sinful. My dream would be that there would ... (click for more)